Improvement in operating beater or power presses



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AM. PHOTO-LTHU. C0. NN. (OSEDRN E'S PRDCESS) UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

CHARLES NELSON, OF NEWBURG, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, JAMES W. TAYLOR, WM. R. BROWN, AND FREDK. W. BANKS.

IMPROVEMENT IN OPERATING BEATER OR POWER PRESSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 55,779, dated June 19, 1866.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES NELSON, of Newburg, in the county of Orange and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machinery for Operating Beater or Bower Presses for Baling Purposes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l, Sheet 1, is an elevation of one side of abeater-press having myinvention applied to it. Fig. 2 is a top view of the same. Fig. 3 is an end view, showing the contriva-nee for automatically throwing out of gear the shaft which operates the pressure-screws. Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical section of one of the antifriction bearings for the pressure-screws. Fig. 5 shows the anti-friction balls of Fig. 4. Fig. 6, Sheet 2, is a longitudinal section taken in a vertical plane through the press. Fig. 7 is a top view of one end of the press-frame and the machinery which is applied thereto, the gearing being represented in section.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several iigures. This invention is intended for operating baling-presses, and particularly such as are termed beaterpresses, by means of steam-engines, without the necessity of reversing the engine when it is desired to apply a dead pressure upon the bale for binding it.

The invention provides for elevating and -depressing' the Vbeater or follower of the press as rapidly as may be desired, and also for applying a steady downward movement to said beater or follower subsequent to said operation of beating without the necessity of stopping or reversing the movement of the main drivin g-shaft.

It also provides for automatically stopping the descent of the follower at the desired moment during the operation of pressing the bale for binding.

It also providesfor relievingthe screw-shafts, which are employed for the above-mentioned purpose, from undue frictionby the employment of anti-friction bearings at the lower ends of said shafts.

It also provides for stopping and starting the main winding-drum, which is used for rapidly elevating and dropping the beater, at the Ypleasure of the operator, and for preventing the drum from being lturned backward, as will be hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art, I will describe the construction and operation of the 4 new machinery when applied to the beaterpress.

ln the accompanying drawings, c represents the main driving-shaft, which passes transversely through the horizontal sill A, near one end o f this sill, upon the opposite end of which latter is the press-box B, within which hay or other material is pressed and baled.

c is a pinion spur-wheel, `which is placed loosely upon the main shaft e, and which can be engaged with this shaft by means of a sliding clutch, a', which rotates with said shaft. The yoked lever a2 is used for moving the clutch a into or out of gea-r. cl is a larger spur-wheel, which is also placed loosely upon the main shaft e, and engaged with it at pleasure by means of a clutch, d,whicli is also provided with a lever, d2, for moving it. b2 is a longitudinal shaft carrying two beveled spurwheels, h and c, which are keyed on their shaft and which engage with their respective wheels a and d. The clutch of the wheel a is operated by hand, and the clutch of the wheel d may be operated by hand and also by certain devices, hereinafter to be explained. 1

The longitudinal shaft b2 carries three beveled pinions, f, 7L, and j. The pinion f engages with a circular rack, j", or spur-wheel. on the bottom ofthe horizontal winding-drum r, and when this pinion f is engaged with the clutch s it moves the drum r in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figs. 1 and 2 5 but when the clutch s is disengaged from said pinion this pinion and the drum r are stationary. The lever s and the draw-rod u are used to operate the clutch and throw the pinion f out of gear with its shaft b2 or in gear with this shaft.

A rope or chain, q, is attached at one end to a loose collar, q', on the hub of the drum r, and this rope passes off through an opening on the horizontal face of said drum to a pulley, r', at the head of the press-box frame; but before passing over this pulley r the rope passes under a pulley, r2, at the foot of said pressboX frame. From pulley r the rope q is carried down and attached permanently to the followei` or beating-head G, as shown in Fig. l.

When the drum r is moved in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figs. l and 2 the rope q winds upon it and lifts the beater C, and when this drum makes nearly one-half a complete revolution the rope slips from it and vthe beater C drops. This operation will be repeated as long as the pinion f is in gear with the clutch s and the shaft b2 is turned in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Then the shaft b2 is reversed, by throwing the clutch of lever d2 out of gear from pinion d and then throwing the clutch a' into gear with the pinion a, the drum o' will he held by the ratchets v and pawls o', (shown in Figs. l and 2,) and the clutchs will be disengaged of itself from its wheel j'.

The'pinion-wheels h and j engage with pinion-wheels 1T t', which are keyed on the lower ends of vertical screw-rods b3 b3, and rotate these screws backward or forward, according to the direction in which the shaft b2 is turned. These screws are tapped through cross-heads b4 b4, which have vertical rods c3 c3 connected to their ends. Said rods are again attached at their upper ends to cross-heads o4 c, which move in grooves or guides in the upright posts of the press-box. These cross-heads and their connecting-rods are moved up and down by the back and forward movements of the screws b3 b3.

The hooked toe c', which is secured to the lfront cross-head, b4, is shown in Figs. 1,2, and 6, and b5 is an arm which is secured to a horizontal transverse rod, c7, that carries on its outer end an arm, c6, which is connected by a pitman, c, to a crank, e8. lhis crank c8 is connected by a rod, C', to a crank-arm, d3, which operates, through the medium of a pitman, g, upon a trippingfcatch, y', which is intended for releasing a loaded arm or lever, g2, that is connected to the lever d2 of the clutch d', as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

The follower or beating-head (l has two horns, o o, projecting from its sides. which are connected together by means of jointed plates, to which the rope q is attached, as shown in FiO. l. These horns 0 0 are pivoted in recesses formed in the follower, and are susceptible of being thrown out a sufficient distance to come under the upper cross-heads, c4 c4, as shown in Fig. l, when it is desired to employ the screws for compressing the bale and conning the bale under pressure until it can be bound. When the rope gis drawn tight, in the act of commencing to lift the follower or beater O, the two horns o 0 will be retracted and brought within this beater, so as to be out of the way and allow the beater to rise and fall freely.

The lower ends of the screw-rods b3 b3 have iianges formed on them for preventing them from being drawn up through the pinion spurwheels t t' during the operation of these rods in drawing down the follower upon the bale, and between the pinion-wheels i i and the upper bearng-11 late,p, (shown clearly in Fig. 4,) steel plates t t are interposed, having annular grooves formed in them for receiving a number of balls, which serve as anti-friction bearings and prevent undue friction.

Having given a general description of the contrivances for operating the heater or follower without reversing the driving-shaft c, I will now brieiiy describe the operation of the machinery.

1 propose to arrange a number of presses side by side and to operate all of them by means of a single driving-shaft, e, extending transversely through the foundation-frames, as shown in Fig. l. This shaft c receives a rotary motion in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figs. l and G.

rlhe clutch s being in gear with the pinion f, this pinion will move the drum r, which, in turn, will lift the beater C to a certain height and vthen allow it to fall suddenly. During this operation of lifting and dropping the follower or beater C and lthe filling of the prcssbox with hay or other material to be baled the cross-heads b4 b4 and c4 c4 are elevated by the turning of the shaft b2 and screws b3 b3. When a sufdcient quantity of the material to be baled has been put into the press-box and beaten down compactly the clutch of wheel a is released from this wheel and the clutch d moved into gear with the wheel d. This will instant-ly reverse the motion of the shaft b2 and throw thc clutch s out of gear from its wheel f and stop the further movement of the drum r. The horns o o being extended, the follower C will be brought down forcibly upon the compressed mass in the press-box. When this follower has been depressed sufficiently the nose or hook c will strike the arm b5 and release the loaded lever g2 from the catch g', and allow the weight w to fall and disengage the clutch d from the wheel d, thus stopping the further movement of the shaft b2.

The degree of pressure upon the bale can be regulated by adjusting the nose c on the' cross-head b4, so that this nose will strike the arm b5 sooner or later, as may be required.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. Automatically throwing the clutch d out of gear from the wheel d by the descent of the follower during the operation of pressing, for the purpose of preventing said follower from descending too far, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the follower C, rope q, drum r, screws b3 b3, shaft b2, and a continuously revolving-shaft, c, all arranged and operating substantially as described.

3. The combination of the loose wheels a d and clutches u d with the shaft e and the pressure from a main driving-shaft which two wheels b c on the reversible shaft b2, subhas a continuous movement in one direction, stantially as described. substantially as described.

4. So constructing a baling-press that a CHARLES NELSON. rapid vertical movement can be communicated Witnesses to the follower, or the follower brought down J No. MILLER, upon the bale or compressed mass with a, dead L. B. HALsEY. 

